If maximum gains are your goal, you’re probably aware of the crucial role protein plays in muscle synthesis. Being the basic building blocks of protein, amino acids play a key role, too. While it may seem like amino acid supplements and protein supplements do the same thing, boosting your protein intake with essential amino acids can provide additional beneficial support. Here’s how you can get the most out of each:
Why You Need Protein
High-quality, complete protein from whey or casein contains all nine of the essential amino acids you need. These are key for meeting your daily protein demands for muscle gains and recovery. To figure out how much daily protein your body needs, try using a protein calculator to track how much you’re getting. If there’s a gap, a high-quality nutrient-packed protein powder or ready-to-drink protein shake is a satisfying, no-hassle way to fill it.
Why You Need Amino Acids
So, if you’re adhering to your daily protein intake goals and sticking to your workout regimen, you should be all set for optimal gains, right? Maybe. If you’re on a mission to get swole, the aptly named essential amino acids are indeed, essential. Three of the nine essential amino acids—leucine, isoleucine and valine—comprise 35 percent of our muscle protein. These three key players are branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) and they’re especially important. BCAAs are essential amino acids that are part of muscle protein. They help to preserve muscle glycogen stores and reduce the amount of protein breakdown. When it comes to protein synthesis, leucine is arguably the most important BCAA, and it’s in whey protein.
But this doesn’t mean that simply consuming more whey protein will give you the maximum BCAA benefits. In separate supplement form, BCAAs aren’t bound to other amino acids, like they are in whey protein. This means they can be digested and absorbed more quickly, which makes them available faster to impact protein synthesis.
Read more about types of amino acids.
When To Take Aminos
It’s key to get your BCAAs with your protein shortly after working out, but BCAA supplements can also be consumed before and during exercise to fuel your muscles and preserve glycogen stores. Look for a protein blend that has a 2:1:1 BCAA ratio—10 grams of BCAAs per serving, five of which are leucine.
Read more about how to use BCAAs as a pre-workout and intra-workout supplement.